Awhile ago I stumbled onto this article at the Consumerist.  I have to admit, I was skeptical at the spin that was likely put on it to make it sound worse than it was.  However, even with spin…holy cow. 

In a nutshell, it’s an article describing a family with six children (something I can relate to) that are well over 100K in debt spending frivolously each month while they’re about to lose their homes….making about 60K/yr.  Ummm, yeah.  OK.

The Comparison

Then it hit me.  How different are we from this gal?  I mean really.  To keep it simple, let’s not count the house here and just add up everything else.  I’m in the hole roughly 60K, I have six kids, and I only make about 80K/yr.  And if you count the Christmas months late last year, I’m not so sure I can really do much bragging around this lady in the article.

Ouch.  That really hurts.

The Difference

Well, I’m actively TRYING to make some progress here.  I’ve already gotten over the whole denial thing and the "keeping up with the Jones" issue.  Just the fact that I know I have a problem and freely admit it has to count for something.  Right?  Ok, I’m stretching here…cut me some slack. 

So, the difference is we’ve got incentive and definitely know that there’s hope.  Lately, we’re trying to come up with all kinds of ideas to help improve our situation.  Where to cut back, how to bring more income in, how to simply sit on our hands for a couple years instead of charging away our lives with every swipe…all things we think about on an almost daily basis.

The Challenge

Am I just gonna sit back and say things like "We’re not like her!  We don’t have that problem!  What a looney!"  Well, I guess I kinda just did.  BUT NO!  We SHALL endure the hardships that we’ve brought forth upon ourselves!  We shall prevail through the harsh sit-on-our-hands weekends before loitering the local shopping establishments!  WE WILL NOT ALLOW OURSELVES TO BE THE NEXT CONSUMERIST ARTICLE!!!  (OK, a little overboard with the drama, but you I hope you get my point.)

So, anyone else out there just completely shocked?  I have to admit, it’s simply an example of how easy it is to drown yourself with debt in this country.  It’s definitely a template of what not to do, but it’s even MORESO an example of how easy it is to commit financial suicide.  Are you like this lady?